


scenes from an arranged marriage

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Series: Wizardverse [29]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Consent Issues, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 04:39:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1731467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a universe where Zeke is the favorite cousin of the incubus king Acodiel and Tavares’s two-century long relationship with Nida is just unofficial enough that their king can (and does) interfere on a whim, relationships are tested and bonds are strained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	scenes from an arranged marriage

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU of my original stuff. It's what I'd write if I had the attention span for pseudo-historical fiction with a fantasy bent. Beta credit goes to [Meeya](candypinkcocks.tumblr.com) without whom I would be lost considering I sat on the first draft of this for a hot minute with no idea what I was going to do with it.
> 
> Contains: an arranged marriage between two people that don't want it, unwanted sexual content (with one party drugged to start their reproduction cycle and the other kind of getting sucked into it because of the nature of their species), age difference(s), something that resembles adultery/cheating (even though Nida gives permission/shows understanding, he really isn't about that), abrupt ending, mentions of: vomit, anxiety
> 
> Character blurbs/bios @ end of work.

**i.**

Zeke has never been angrier in his life.

"Whose bright idea was this?" Zeke demands as he tries to smooth down the lines of his engagement robes when his sister's fussing messes with the fall of the near translucent spidersilk fabric hanging off his body. "Nobody does arranged marriages anymore, not unless they want to look like they're holding on to the old ideas."

Zeke huffs as his elder sister tries to fix the fall of his veil over the rounded points of his horns, squeezing his eyes shut as though trying to block the indignity of it all.

"This isn't fair, Dai."

Dai spares a faint smile for her younger brother.

"There's no arguing with our king, little brother," she says, carding her fingers through the loose hair at the nape of Zeke's neck through a gap in the nearly sheer veil hanging round his head. "He thinks that you will be happy with Tavares. That's the only reason he's pushing this engagement on you both."

"You mean 'you three', Dai."

Zeke feels his nose wrinkle with a frown when he thinks of his future fiancé's long-term lover and the relationship that their cousin Acodiel has no problem interfering in.

"How can I be happy with someone that is already all but happily married?" He digs his fingers into his palms as Dai tries to soothe him. "Why would Tavares even agree to something like this?"

Dai pulls Zeke over to the chair in front of an expansive vanity and manhandles her younger brother until he takes the hint and drops down on the chair hard enough to cause its legs to creak. Dai kneels on the floor in front of Zeke, taking his hands in hers and rubbing tight circles over the backs of his palms. His sister’s attempt at comfort does nothing to actually help and Zeke feels his tail twist around the legs of his seat as anxiety tightens his throat.

"Maybe they can't have children," Dai says as though that means anything to Zeke who isn't even sure that he wants children in the first place. "Or maybe, things in paradise aren't what they seem. Goddess knows why our cousin chose Tavares for your husband, but he must have had a good reason for it."

Dai squeezes her brother's hands in a tight grip and then releases them with a sigh before she rises to her feet. She pulls Zeke up after her in the very next moment and then hugs her brother as tightly as she dares to with his fine robes between them.

"You'll be fine, Zeke," Dai says with her mouth pressed to the side of her brother's face. "Arranged marriages aren't all that bad. Besides, it could be worse: you could be marrying someone like that creepy djinn that they exiled last week."

Zeke tries to laugh, but the sound comes out more like a sob.

"Dai, I --"

"Yes, Zeke?"

"I'm scared," Zeke says shakily. "What if this is all a bad idea?"

Dai presses a kiss to the side of her brother's head through his veil. "Then I'll kick our king's ass myself and then I'll do the same to your husband," she promises. "No one gets to hurt my little brother and get away with it."

**ii.**

The moment that Acodiel's little cousin leaves the receiving room with his entourage, Tavares lets his anger get the best of him.

Tavares reaches for the nearest breakable object and then, with a shout of anger leaving his lips, throws it against the wall. Glass and crystal land everywhere, but it's not even close to enough to soothing Tavares's anger.

"He intends to marry me to a child," Tavares snarls. He pins Nida with a sharp glare when his mate has the nerve not to immediately agree with him.

"Did you see him? The poor thing can't've had his first cycle and our king is already shoving him at me." Tavares's top lip curls, baring his elongated canines. "Does he think that he's going to win some favor with us for forcing a child into our bed?"

Nida shakes his head, managing to remain calm in the face of Tavares's fury.

"He is young," Nida concedes after several moments go by without a word spoken between them. "Younger than we were when we first tumbled into bed together, yes, but not a child. I know you didn't pay attention when Acodiel was speaking to us, but the king's cousin is well over his majority even though he seems to be a bit of a late bloomer."

Tavares shakes his head. "I didn't expect this from you of all people, Nida."

Nida quickly straightens up in his seat, the fast motion sending the inky spill of his long hair tumbling over his shoulder. "Excuse me?"

"You're making excuses for him already," Tavares says. "Maybe you should have been the one to marry him. If I had known that you liked them young, I would have suggested you instead." There's a nasty curl to Tavares's mouth and anger simmering in his bright green gaze. He's aiming to wound and they both know it.

But Nida doesn't take the bait. He stands up instead, brushing back his hair where the long black mass has mostly escaped the tie around the ends, and then crosses the room to stand in front of his lover.

"You're not angry at me," Nida says self-assuredly, reaching out to curl the fingers of one hand around Tavares's wrist where lines of pale ink stands out against his lover's dark brown skin." You're mad at yourself."

Tavares snorts. "You sound pretty sure of that for someone that's being yelled at."

Nida's smile takes on a sharper edge. "You're mad that you didn't have the nerve to tell Acodiel that you didn't want to get married to his cousin."

"Have you met our king?" Tavares frowns at his lover. "He doesn't hear anything except what he wants to hear. Do you want to lose our status in the court because I turned him down?"

"I know you Tavares," Nida says. "You don't care one whit about the court or how well we do in it. You're just sore that you can't get out of this marriage."

Tavares can't quite manage to stop the frown that settles on his face. "Why aren't you upset about this?" Tavares asks. "Aren't you afraid --"

"Of what?" Nida asks, cutting Tavares off mid-sentence as his smile widens. "That you'll fall in love with your husband? That you'll leave me for him?"

Nida laughs.

"Your wedding's in three days. If I honestly thought that this marriage would be a problem for us, we would be on a ship halfway to Cretia by now. I'm not afraid of anything."

**iii.**

Zeke throws up twice on the day of his wedding.

First, when he finishes the scant meal brought up from their new house's kitchen by Dai and then again when their mother comes to help Zeke finish preparing for his wedding.

His mother tries to comfort him, but all her attempts fall short.

"Arranged marriages aren't all bad," Yiyu says as she rubs her son's shaking shoulders. "Look at your father and me. Our marriage was arranged and you never see me complaining."

Yiyu pauses for a moment and then laughs quietly, smiling as she thinks of her beloved Anthony. "Well... not about marrying him at any rate. Your father and I came to love each other, Zeke, and you will come to love Tavares."

Zeke sniffles, feeling tears trickle down his cheeks. Bile raises up to choke him again, but Zeke does his best to fight it back. Throwing up twice on his wedding day is bad enough. Zeke really doesn't want to vomit a third time.

After all, it's not like being sick everywhere is helping.

"But, Ma... what if he doesn’t love me?"

Yiyu croons wordlessly at Zeke, singing to him in an attempt to ease her baby's pain. She rubs at the nape of Zeke's neck where the gaps in his braided hair reveal pale flesh and a smattering of freckles.

"He will," Yiyu promises as she plays with the silver beads wound into her son's dark hair. "It's impossible for anyone to meet you and not love you."

**iv.**

The ceremonial wine burns as it goes down Zeke's throat.

If not for its importance in the ceremony, Zeke would probably push the cup away and gag, but with what feels like the entire court watching and waiting in the great hall of the home he's supposed to share with Tavares and Nida, he has no other choice but to drink up.

Zeke only has the vaguest idea of what the spiced wine's purpose is, but he knows that it has to be important enough if the priestess is giving it to him and him alone. The point of arranged marriage after all is children, and the wine that starts to set his body afire with an early heat seems set to provide Tavares with just that.

When the cup is empty, Tavares takes it out of Zeke's hands and passes it to the waiting priestess who quickly moves to finish the ceremony.

"May your marriage be as bright as the stars above Anatea," the priestess says, smiling as though this is a normal marriage where all parties are happy to be there. She presses their hands together and then presents them to the seated guests. "I give you Tavares and Zeke of Marran."

The roar of the cheering crowd is almost deafening, but when Zeke dares to glance up at his new husband, the other incubus's face is hard and unsmiling.

Zeke nearly bursts into tears in front of everyone.

**v.**

"May I have this dance?"

Zeke looks up (and up and up) into a long, almost foxlike face that he recognizes instantly. Bolting up from his seat, Zeke brushes down the front of his robe and offers the demon in front of him a tremulous smile.

"M-my lord," he squeaks, dropping into a deep bow in front of his husband's beloved. "N-Nida, I-I don't know if that would be proper, sir."

Nida takes hold of Zeke’s hand, pulling him forward until their bodies press together. One large hand settles low on Zeke's back, fingers splayed around the base of Zeke's tail where a slit in his wedding robes allows the winding appendage to stay free of the heavy blue fabric.

Leaning in close enough that his lips brush the side of Zeke's head and the tip of one slightly pointed ear, Nida draws out their contact as he speaks.

"Do I seem like someone that gives one damn about propriety?"

Zeke is quick to shake his head. "N-no?"

"Good boy," Nida practically purrs. "Now, let's dance."

*

Halfway through a simple slow dance, their simple conversation takes on a different, and definitely uncomfortable, tone for Zeke.

"Tavares and I have been together for two hundred years," Nida says lowly.

Zeke nods, smiling as though Nida has said something charming instead of utterly confusing to him. "I know that."

"And until now, we have both avoided being entrapped by your cousin's schemes," Nida murmurs, his mouth brushing against the side of Zeke's face again. "Do you realize what this marriage might mean for our relationship? Do you realize what your cousin hopes to do by bringing you into our home as Tavares's husband and not arranging a triad marriage?"

Zeke nearly forgets the steps to their dance, so stunned is he by Nida's question that he stumbles over his own feet as Nida makes to twirl him. He doesn't want to think of his cousin like that. Nor does he want to think of his marriage as something set to break apart another relationship.

"I-- I--"

Ducking his head, Zeke tries to control the tide of panic swelling up in his chest as all of the pieces start to slot together in his head.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Zeke whispers, speaking just loudly enough for Nida to hear.

"Are you sure about that?" Nida asks and Zeke can't tell if the older demon is trying to be menacing or if he only seems frightening to Zeke because of the combination of nerves and that damned wine.

**vi.**

Even through the crowded hall, Tavares can smell when the aphrodisiacs in the ceremonial wine take effect.

Zeke's burgeoning heat scent is like nothing else Tavares has ever experienced, and against his own will, he finds his cock hardening against his trousers. His mouth waters as he stares at where Zeke sits, picking listlessly at a plate of food set before him at the high table, and he feels at war with himself. He wants to be loyal to Nida, wants nothing more than to storm out of the hall sans his new husband, but when he scents Zeke's pheromones in the air, a hunger sets upon him in an instant.

The heavy fall of Nida's hands against Tavares's shoulders startles Tavares and he jerks.

"What do you want?" Tavares says in a snippy tone. "I didn't think you'd want to be here when I had to take my new husband to bed." He frowns when Nida doesn’t fire back at him and shakes his head. "I'm going to have to bed him."

Nida nods.

"You will," Nida concedes, speaking quietly. "The wine has already taken effect. To leave your new husband without taking care of his heat would be cruel." Nida shakes his head slowly, a somber expression settling on his face. "You may be angry, but you are not usually cruel."

Tavares frowns at his mate.

"I saw you talking with him earlier," he mutters, jerking his gaze away from Zeke's flushed face as though it hurts him to do so. "You were dancing together and he wasn’t -- he wasn't looking at you like he was about to cry. Tell me, Nida, what is he like? How does he feel about marrying someone so much older than he is?"

"Scared mostly," Nida confesses after a moment of silence comes between them. "I don't think anyone explained any of this to him. He's frightened and I fear that he believes that one of us will mistreat him." Shaking his head, Nida frowns even harder. "He is so young..."

"And yet you still want me to bed him?" Tavares hisses.

Nida shakes his head.

"Don't put words in my mouth, Tavares. At least for tonight, he needs this. Or would you rather have your husband lost in the pain of an unfulfilled heat because you're not mature enough to do what has to be done. He may not be a child, Tavares, but he is innocent in this. Do not torture him over his cousin's decisions."

Tavares sucks his teeth.

"I don't want him," Tavares says. "I won't ever want him. Not the way that I want you."

"I know," Nida murmurs, lifting one hand to cup the side of his mate's face. Stroking his thumb over Tavares's dark skin, Nida musters up a smile for his beloved along with a relatively chaste kiss. "Now go to your little husband before our king accuses you of ignoring your marital duties."

**vii.**

Zeke feels as though he is burning up from the inside out.

Hot and uncomfortable, with every single brush of fabric against his skin causing him to howl, Zeke feels tears prick at his eyes for every moment that passes without his heat being sated.  In vain he turns, wriggling around against the sheets on the big bed in their gifted suite in an attempt to catch his husband's eye.

"Tavares," Zeke calls out in a weak tone, turning his face towards where Tavares sits in silence in front of the room's big window. He reaches out; fingers outstretched in hopes that his husband will touch him or even look at him in the confines of their bedroom. "Husband, I --"

"Don't call me that!"

At the sound of the anger in Tavares's deep voice, Zeke flinches and the waves of heat consuming him start to recede slightly. He looks up at his husband with wide eyes, torn between the overwhelming desire from his heat and the fear of his new husband's anger. Zeke dips his head, tucking his chin close to his chest so that he doesn't have to look up at Tavares's face.

"I-- I didn't mean it," Zeke whispers. "I just -- I'm burning up and I need something to stop it." Zeke's breath catches in his throat when another wave of heat causes his body to tense up against the sumptuous mattress. "Please!"

At first, Zeke fears the worst.

He fears being locked in a room and made to sweat through his heat and the persistent ache that signifies his body's need for companionship. He's heard the stories -- heard about how first heats are the worst if left unattended. Stories that never end well for the poor soul going through the heat itself.

"D-don't leave," Zeke hears himself say weakly. "Please don't leave."

When the bed dips down on one side, Zeke almost doesn't let himself hope. He sucks in air until his lungs hurt and then, when the heavy heat of one of Tavares's large hands settles in against his hip, pushes all that air out in a wailing cry. Just that simple touch goes a ways to easing Zeke's heat.

Just one touch and Zeke doesn't feel quite so out of control.

"Are you going to --"

Zeke can't make himself finish asking the question and he squeezes his eyes shut as he gestures at his barely clothed body as shame rushes through him. He knows better (that Tavares and Nida have been more than married for decades, that Tavares doesn't want this any more than he does, that this is just for one purpose) but the need that threatens to choke Zeke is overwhelming.

Seemingly in answer to Zeke's unfinished question, Tavares's mouth presses to the side of Zeke's neck where his hair has fallen to one side to reveal his unmarked throat. He doesn't quite kiss the skin there but there's enough promise in the gesture to quiet Zeke's frantic mind. It's almost enough to make Zeke's overheated body feel as though it's getting what it needs.

"Soon," Tavares says in a low, almost coaxing tone as his fingers stroke over Zeke's sweaty skin. "I'll take care of you."

That too is almost enough.

Zeke whimpers again, shifting against the bed as Tavares's bigger body settles behind his own. He can feel how hard Tavares is for him. He can smell how much Tavares is affected by his heat-scent. But still --

"Do you really want me?" Zeke whispers.

Tavares doesn't answer.

**viii.**

Nida can't sleep.

Unsettled by the thought of his beloved being with someone else --without him there for the ride --, Nida's anxious mind keeps him awake and worrying all night despite all that he tries. He even sends for, and then drinks, a near-scalding cup of tea that is laced liberally with a sleeping draught. It is the last resort of a desperate demon.

Nothing works.

Nida can't get his mind off the fact that his beloved is with someone else, somewhere that he isn't allowed or even wanted. His mind runs in circles, keeping him awake until long after the faint signs of life around the castle have died down to where he can barely hear them.

The very second that the sky outside his window lightens with the oncoming dawn, Nida bolts up from his empty bed, running his fingers through the tangle of his long black hair before dressing quickly in his dressing gown.

Nida wrenches open the bedroom door, mind barely focused on where he's going. Only a loud gasp of breath keeps him from running right into Tavares.

"What -- Tavares, what the hell are you doing?"

Tavares doesn't meet Nida's searching eyes.

"There's breakfast down in the kitchens," he says, speaking low as if he doesn't really want anyone to hear him speaking. "The cooks my parents sent as a wedding gift already have the place running well."

It's not really an answer.

Nida frowns, not liking the feeling that there's so much that Tavares isn't telling him.

"What about your husband?" Nida asks. "What about Zeke?"

Tavares shrugs. "What about him?"

There's no way for Nida to be tactful. "What if he has a heat flare or gets hungry?"

"Then he'll find his way to the kitchens or flag down a servant same as everybody else in the nobility," Tavares says sharply. "I don't want to spend any more time with him than is absolutely necessary."

Frowning, Nida quickly looks Tavares over. Finding nothing out of sorts aside from his beloved's mood, he shakes his head. "Are you alright, Tavares?"

"What do you think?" Tavares snaps. "Neither of us wanted to be in that bed, Nida. Neither of us. Sure, he made all the right noises once we got started, but I could tell he wanted it as much as I did."

The anger on Tavares's face melts away into the sort of weary frustration that Nida feels deep in his bones and he reaches out, dark fingers snagging in one of the sleeves of Nida's robe.

"I don't want to see him again. Not for a while."

Nida feels himself nodding. "I understand."

A bitter, brittle smile settles onto Tavares's face. "No, you really don't," he says with a sigh trailing the words. "Anyway, if it bothers you so much, I'll get Ebi to assign a page to him. Someone that'll keep him in that room and out of my hair."

**ix.**

Zeke wakes up to an empty bed in a sunlit room.

He isn't surprised.

Despite Tavares doing his best to quell Zeke's heat in that first part of his cycle, there's no mistaking how little the older demon wants to do with Zeke aside from that. If Zeke sees Tavares during the lucid portions of this heat cycle, he'll be surprised.

Zeke rolls out of the bed and wraps a sheet around his body, tying it around himself rather than go looking for his wedding robes. At the thought of putting those clothes back on, Zeke shudders and ties his sheets around his body even tighter until the fabric is all but digging into his skin.

When Zeke goes to open the door to the bedroom, a willowy fae with pale purple skin steps into his path before Zeke can do more than nudge the threshold with the tips of his toes.

"I apologize, little master," the fae says in a voice that sounds like music. "But I was told to keep you in your rooms until the masters called for you."

Zeke blinks. "Excuse me?"

The fae servant clears zir throat with impatience obvious in zir stiff posture.

"You do not have permission to leave these rooms at this time," ze says as Zeke gapes up at zir with a frown on his own face. "If you need food and clothing, I will be happy to fetch them for you. Leaving the room however, is not allowed."

Reeling, Zeke tries to make sense of things.

"B-but I am Tavares's husband," Zeke blurts out, shocked by the way his own voice trembles. "Why do I have to stay locked in this room all day? That's not fair."

"You will have to take it up with your new husband," the servant says in response. "They were his orders and I am only a page. I cannot question him."

Zir expression softens somewhat at whatever expression crosses Zeke's face and ze bows slightly at the waist. "Would you like anything, little master? Anything at all?"

Zeke shakes his head, already opening his mouth to send the fae servant away. He pauses with the words on the tip of his tongue.

"What is your name?"

His page startles noticeably.

"A-Arden," ze says quickly, dropping into a deeper bow before straightening up to zir towering height. "It is a pleasure to serve you, little master."

Zeke musters a smile for his page

"Well then, Arden: I'd like a bath please," he says almost breathlessly. "I want a bath and some clothes, maybe something hot to eat." He pauses, feeling his stomach clench with something unfamiliar. "And -- and I think I'd like to see Tavares and Nida please. If you can get them to come to me."

Arden's thin mouth pinches with a frown, but ze bows again. "I will do my best. Someone will be up shortly with your things for bathing."

**Author's Note:**

>  **Zeke** \- half-incubus/half-magical human, youngest child of a prominent noble that has familial ties to the incubus king. Over his majority but is a late bloomer in terms of physical and emotional development. Can bear children. Is an utterly presh baby. (He's the main character in 90% of my original stories so I'm a bit biased.)
> 
> **Dai** - half-incubus/half-magical human, second youngest child of a prominent noble that has familial ties to the incubus king. Zeke's older sister and closest friend. Is the most positive out of the two of them.
> 
> **Yiyu** \- nobility in the Eastern Anatean provinces, she is the king's cousin on his mother's side and has always enjoyed some freedoms associated with that. Was in an arranged marriage and believes that Zeke will be happy in one as well.
> 
> **Acodiel** \- (mentioned, not seen) The incubus king of Anatea. Thinks he knows better than everyone and doesn't like to be challenged in his opinions. Has an ulterior motive for everything he does.
> 
> **Nida** \- half-incubus/half-divinity, a former soldier and guard for the nobility. Nida and Tavares worked together during a period of compulsory military service in the Anatean army in their youth some 400ish years previous and moved from fuck buddies to friends to partners that were as good as married. He's slow to anger (but frightening when he is angry) and prefers to plan and think before doing anything.
> 
> **Tavares** \- the heir to the South Anatean province of Marran, Tavares grew up in the lap of luxury. He's more than a little spoiled, more than a little stubborn, and rather quick to anger. He takes longer to acclimate to Zeke in the wake of their rushed arranged marriage and is the most outwardly antagonistic.
> 
> **Arden** \- Ze is a page from Cretia that entered the household of Tavares's parents within the past decade. Zir is a bit standoffish at first but when ze suspects an injustice of any kind, zir protective instincts go into overdrive.


End file.
